Review of Retention Strategies in Longitudinal Studies and Application to Follow-up of ICU Survivors

Overview

Journal Intensive Care Med

Specialty Critical Care

Date 2007 Aug 19

PMID 17701161

Citations 29

Authors

Catherine M Tansey

Andrea L Matte

Dale Needham

Margaret S Herridge

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To review the literature on retention strategies in follow-up studies and their relevance to critical care and to comment on the Toronto experience with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) follow-up studies.

Design And Setting: Literature review and two cohort studies in a tertiary care hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Patients And Participants: ARDS and SARS patients.

Measurements And Results: Review articles from the social sciences and medicine are summarized and our own experience with two longitudinal studies is drawn upon to elucidate strategies that can be successfully used to attenuate participant drop-out from longitudinal studies. Three key areas for retention of subjects are identified from the literature: (a) respect for patients: respect for their ideas and their time commitment to the research project; (b) tracking: collect information on many patient contacts at the initiation of the study and outline tracking procedures for subjects lost to follow-up; and (c) study personnel: interpersonal skills must be reinforced, flexible working hours mandated, and support offered. Our 5-year ARDS and 1-year SARS study retention rates were 86% and 91%, respectively, using these methods.

Conclusions: Strategies to reduce patient attrition are time consuming but necessary to preserve internal and external validity. When the follow-up system is working effectively, researchers can acquire the necessary data to advance knowledge in their field and patients are satisfied that they have an important role to play in the research project.

Citing Articles

Longitudinal cohort study investigating neurodevelopmental and socioemotional outcomes in school-entry aged children after open heart surgery in Australia and New Zealand: the NITRIC follow-up study protocol.

Long D, Anderson V, Crossley L, Sood N, Charles K, MacDonald A BMJ Open. 2023; 13(8):e075429.

PMID: 37648380 PMC: 10471882. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075429.

Musculoskeletal health state and physical function of intensive care unit survivors: protocol for a UK multicentre prospective cohort study (the MSK-ICU study).

Gustafson O, King E, Schlussel M, Rowland M, Dawes H, Williams M BMJ Open. 2023; 13(2):e071385.

PMID: 36731924 PMC: 9896246. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071385.

Promoting adherence to stroke secondary prevention behaviours by imparting behaviour change skills: protocol for a single-arm pilot trial of Living Well After Stroke.

Smith S, Parkinson J, Caitens T, Sanders A, Murphy L, Hamilton K BMJ Open. 2023; 13(1):e068003.

PMID: 36693692 PMC: 9884915. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068003.

Recruitment and retention into longitudinal health research from an adolescent perspective: a qualitative study.

Jong S, Stevenson R, Winpenny E, Corder K, van Sluijs E BMC Med Res Methodol. 2023; 23(1):16.

PMID: 36647003 PMC: 9841671. DOI: 10.1186/s12874-022-01802-7.

Association between unmet medication needs after hospital discharge and readmission or death among acute respiratory failure survivors: the addressing post-intensive care syndrome (APICS-01) multicenter prospective cohort study.

Brown S, Dinglas V, Akhlaghi N, Bose S, Banner-Goodspeed V, Beesley S Crit Care. 2022; 26(1):6.

PMID: 34991660 PMC: 8738999. DOI: 10.1186/s13054-021-03848-3.

References

Davis L, Broome M, Cox R . Maximizing retention in community-based clinical trials. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2002; 34(1):47-53. DOI: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2002.00047.x. View

Herridge M, Cheung A, Tansey C, Matte-Martyn A, Diaz-Granados N, Al-Saidi F . One-year outcomes in survivors of the acute respiratory distress syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2003; 348(8):683-93. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa022450. View

Morrison T, Wahlgren D, Hovell M, Zakarian J, Hofstetter C, Slymen D . Tracking and follow-up of 16,915 adolescents: minimizing attrition bias. Control Clin Trials. 1997; 18(5):383-96. DOI: 10.1016/s0197-2456(97)00025-1. View

Cheung A, Tansey C, Tomlinson G, Diaz-Granados N, Matte A, Barr A . Two-year outcomes, health care use, and costs of survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006; 174(5):538-44. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.200505-693OC. View

Vincent J . Endpoints in sepsis trials: more than just 28-day mortality?. Crit Care Med. 2004; 32(5 Suppl):S209-13. DOI: 10.1097/01.ccm.0000126124.41743.86. View

Marcellus L . Are we missing anything? Pursuing research on attrition. Can J Nurs Res. 2004; 36(3):82-98. View

Hill Z . Reducing attrition in panel studies in developing countries. Int J Epidemiol. 2004; 33(3):493-8. DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyh060. View

Cottler L, Compton W, Ben-Abdallah A, Horne M, Claverie D . Achieving a 96.6 percent follow-up rate in a longitudinal study of drug abusers. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1996; 41(3):209-17. DOI: 10.1016/0376-8716(96)01254-9. View

Boys A, Marsden J, Stillwell G, Hatchings K, Griffiths P, Farrell M . Minimizing respondent attrition in longitudinal research: practical implications from a cohort study of adolescent drinking. J Adolesc. 2003; 26(3):363-73. DOI: 10.1016/s0140-1971(03)00011-3. View

10.

Tansey C, Louie M, Loeb M, Gold W, Muller M, de Jager J . One-year outcomes and health care utilization in survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Arch Intern Med. 2007; 167(12):1312-20. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.167.12.1312. View

11.

BootsMiller B, Ribisl K, Mowbray C, Davidson W, Walton M, Herman S . Methods of ensuring high follow-up rates: lessons from a longitudinal study of dual diagnosed participants. Subst Use Misuse. 1998; 33(13):2665-85. DOI: 10.3109/10826089809059344. View

12.

Hunt J, White E . Retaining and tracking cohort study members. Epidemiol Rev. 1998; 20(1):57-70. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a017972. View

13.

Hayes J, Black N, Jenkinson C, Young J, Rowan K, Daly K . Outcome measures for adult critical care: a systematic review. Health Technol Assess. 2000; 4(24):1-111. View

14.

Desmond D, MADDUX J, Johnson T, Confer B . Obtaining follow-up interviews for treatment evaluation. J Subst Abuse Treat. 1995; 12(2):95-102. DOI: 10.1016/0740-5472(94)00076-4. View